Chiellini and Bonucci

Also, that Bonucci is a handsome fecker on top of being an excellent footballer, so that's annoying
 
I honestly just can't understand why Juventus let Chiellini's contract run out.
 
Just a fantastic pair to watch.

Chiellini specially. Guy is an absolute legend. Top notch leader to have in the back.
 
Chiellini I like, think he's a brilliant defender, and is also at the point where he is in it for fun. He has won everything hasnt he?

Bonucci, bit of a twat, got alot of talent though and is prone to a daft mistake.

Typical great defensive partnership if we are honest.
 
Bonucci edged it for me, but what an outstanding CB pair. Legends of the game.
 
I heard they’ve played more than 28000 minutes together and you can really see that. They know exactly what the other is about to do. Amazing performance today.
 
They lost three big finals. So happy they finally have an international trophy. They deserve it. Legendary pairing. I wonder how many games they have played together.
 
VorZakone said:
I think a couple of years ago Chiellini said that Guardiolianism ruined defenders. The gist was that defenders can organize themselves,be good on the ball but can't mark a striker out of the game anymore. He said Italy should stay away from it, it's just not in their defending DNA.

Here is the quote:
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"Pep Guardiola spoiled and ruined the Italian defender. He is a fantastic coach with a fantastic mind but Italian trainers have tried to copy him without the same knowledge and then in the last 10 years, we lost our identity.
We lost our identity of Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Nesta, Giuseppe Bergomi, Claudio Gentile, Gaetano Scirea ... between 1984 and 1995, we have only Leonardo Bonucci.
In 10 years, we didn't launch one good defender. I hope now we restart and relaunch Italian football. The World Cup result is the proof of our problem."

Basically saying poor coaches in Italy not able to coach defenders properly whilst trying to be Pep have been messing up defenders coming through. In other words poor clones doing things arseways.
 
padr81 said:
"Pep Guardiola spoiled and ruined the Italian defender. He is a fantastic coach with a fantastic mind but Italian trainers have tried to copy him without the same knowledge and then in the last 10 years, we lost our identity.
We lost our identity of Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Nesta, Giuseppe Bergomi, Claudio Gentile, Gaetano Scirea ... between 1984 and 1995, we have only Leonardo Bonucci.
In 10 years, we didn't launch one good defender. I hope now we restart and relaunch Italian football. The World Cup result is the proof of our problem."

Basically saying poor coaches in Italy not able to coach defenders properly whilst trying to be Pep have been messing up defenders coming through. In other words poor clones doing things arseways.
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Chiellini is an expert craftsman and knows what he’s talking about. Crafts are not invented and implemented on the training ground - crafts are ingrained by cultural role models and internalized in the school yards, fields, backyards. This goes for coaching crafts as well.

Italy played some un-Italian nice stuff early on this year, and would have crashed out against good teams in the closing stages like un-Italian teams often do - except that they had a very Italian back three of Donnarumma, Bonucci, Chiellini. No Rossi, no Baggio or Del Piero, though Chiesa was nice. But the heritage of Zoff and Buffon, of Gentile, Baresi Maldini and Nesta. Just like when they became World champions with Buffon, Cannavaro and Materazzi.
 
Love them. Even as an England fan.

Great way for the to presumably sign off from international football.

Any new Italian legendary CBs to keep an eye out for?
 
padr81 said:
"Pep Guardiola spoiled and ruined the Italian defender. He is a fantastic coach with a fantastic mind but Italian trainers have tried to copy him without the same knowledge and then in the last 10 years, we lost our identity.
We lost our identity of Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Nesta, Giuseppe Bergomi, Claudio Gentile, Gaetano Scirea ... between 1984 and 1995, we have only Leonardo Bonucci.
In 10 years, we didn't launch one good defender. I hope now we restart and relaunch Italian football. The World Cup result is the proof of our problem."

Basically saying poor coaches in Italy not able to coach defenders properly whilst trying to be Pep have been messing up defenders coming through. In other words poor clones doing things arseways.
Click to expand...

Love it. It's the same in England too, all the CBs coming through now are tidy in possession but can't defend properly.
 
Good game from them both today. But I will say Southgate helped them out by basically fielding only 2 actual attackers in Kane and Sterling. Far too defensive an approach against a team that only really had Cheisla as an attacking threat.
 
Donnarumma - Chiellini - Bonucci is like when we had VDS - Rio - Vidic.
 
Strange that we saw 120 mins of football tonight and they were barely ever tasked with anything that wouldn't be considered routine, especially for them. Cleared a few crosses, got tight to Kane after the first 15 mins, but apart from that really weren't ever exposed against pace or generally one v one. Getting Sterling and Saka going never really materialised. Shows how little control England had and how rarely they got the ball into good areas with any tempo, extremely poor stuff on the ball.
 
I was just reading yesterday how Chiellini almost joined Sunderland in his early 20's for £8 million.

Makes me wonder what would have come of him if the move had gone through.

Listening to him speak to the press on Saturday night, he came across as humble and so calm, ultimately even when they were a goal down he remained calm, I think it was a game that needed Grealish from the start to have worked Chiellini more, however that wasn't to be and Chiellini did his job very well and at the end of the day they deserved the win.
 
Cutch said:
Was gonna make a thread about Chiellini but I'll put it here instead. Is he now an all time great defender and where does he rank amongst Baresi, Scirea, Gentile, Cannavaro, Nesta etc?
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Sergio Ramos is better than Chiellini as far as his legacy goes. As a player? To me Sergio is better, but they are both absolute legends.
 
I wouldn't put it past them to go all the way to the next World Cup. They are still a solid partnership even after all these years.
 
Cutch said:
Was gonna make a thread about Chiellini but I'll put it here instead. Is he now an all time great defender and where does he rank amongst Baresi, Scirea, Gentile, Cannavaro, Nesta etc?
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Not quite at Baresi, Scirea, Maldini and Nesta level but certainly in the next tier down with Gentile.

duffer said:
That pull back on Saka was so ridiculous I can't help but admire it.
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It was ridiculous. Would have been a straight red on another area of the pitch though. Maybe that makes it genius, knowing he wouldn't get a red there.
 
I would add Terry and Carvalho to the mix, of course also Rio and Vidic as best CB partnerships.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
My son was asking me the same question. Will people talk about him in a few years like they talk about Maldini now? I said maybe.
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Baresi is undoubtedly the best.

Think Maldini, Nesta and Cannavarro were also better. Chiellini, Bonucci + Costacurta belong in a lower tier.

I know it’s crazy to say after they won a Euro Cup, but were they that great? Did England really challenge them? Did Kane even had a touch in the penalty area all game long? This was more abysmal showing from England than exquisite showing from Bonucci + Kiellini in my humble opinion
 
I believe I read a stat that neither of them were successfully dribbled passed the entire tournament, quite impressive.

Absolute monsters for the team in terms of mentality as well.

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Dan-Utd said:
I was just reading yesterday how Chiellini almost joined Sunderland in his early 20's for £8 million.

Makes me wonder what would have come of him if the move had gone through.

Listening to him speak to the press on Saturday night, he came across as humble and so calm, ultimately even when they were a goal down he remained calm, I think it was a game that needed Grealish from the start to have worked Chiellini more, however that wasn't to be and Chiellini did his job very well and at the end of the day they deserved the win.
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Roy Keane tried to sign him when he was at Sunderland
 
KC91 said:
I believe I read a stat that neither of them were successfully dribbled passed the entire tournament, quite impressive.

Absolute monsters for the team in terms of mentality as well.

Edit:

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Wow that's a mental stat. Impressive, speaks also to how solid their midfield was, but with their age, their reading of the game is second to none to be able to do that all tournament
 
Great pairing and I think they'll have one more World Cup in them as its only a year away. We barely tested them with our setup though.

We have a pretty good defence ourselves with Maguire and Stones.
 
Absolute class CBs and I am happy to see them win, especially Giorgio, he's been up there with the best of CBs in the world for a decade, and Bonucci has been great as well.
 
I still remember Nesta & Maldini pair for AC Milan from 2002 to 2007, They were so good it took a Ronaldinho and a certine Steven Gerrard to really give them a run for their money.
 
Vastly experienced and know what to and when to do it and how to do it. They even would yank someone's shirt to bring them down rather than allow them to run freely at the goal
 
I think when they retire, for some reason, I think Bonucchi would become a top level Manager/Head Coach, while Chellini would become DoF
 
bakalhau said:
I honestly just can't understand why Juventus let Chiellini's contract run out.
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He tore his ACL in 2019 and missed a year of football, and has been struggling with his fitness ever since. Many, including myself, thought his career was over. He started playing regularly again this spring and after these Euros and the reappointment of Allegri, I am sure he will extend his contract.
 
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